Anthropological Society of Serbia was founded on 30 May 2007 in Apatin, Vojvodina, at XLVI Congress of Anthropological Society of Yugoslavia. The head office of the Society is at Department of Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Sciences, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 2, Novi Sad. The president of the Society is Professor Verica Božić-Krstić,PhD, the secretary is Tatjana Pavlica, MSc, and the treasurer is Rada Rakić, MSc. Mr. Petar Vlahovic was appointed an honorary president of ADS.
Anthropological Society of Serbia continues the activities of Anthropological Society of Yugoslavia (ASY) founded in Belgrade in 1959 as a non-partisan, professional scientific organisation for the territory of former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). The members of the first Executive Board were: B. Škerlj, Ž. Gavrilović, K. Mirković, V. Brodar, E. Ferber, B. Vračarić, F. Mikić, P. Vlahović, D. Antonijević, D. Bebler, S. Šljivić, S. Urban, L. Jovančić. At the inaugural meeting in Kotor on 27 May 1992, new Anthropological Society of Yugoslavia was founded as a successor organisation of the former ASY. The members of the Executive Board were: P. Vlahović, Lj. Agramović, A. Momirović-Hošek, R. Radojević, Ž. Gavrilović, J. Kozarov, B. Ivanović, I. Behluli. All members from Serbia and Montenegro had the legal right to continue the activities of ASY founded in 1959.
Although other regional level societies were founded within the scope of ASY (Croatian Anthropological Society in 1977, Anthropological Society of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1981, Macedonian Anthropological Society in 1983 and Anthropological Society of Slovenia in 1992), Anthropological Society of Yugoslavia was functioning as a homogenous organisation until the dissolution of SFRY in 1992.
Congresses, at which at least one third of all members were distinguished professionals from abroad, represented the driving force of all activities of the Society. They were annual meetings organised in different republics and provinces. In the period 1951-1991, thirty international congresses were organised: five of them in Slovenia, five in Croatia, four in Bosnia and Herzegovina, three in Macedonia, two in Montenegro, six in central Serbia, four in Vojvodina and one in Kosovo.
Since 1992, the members from Montenegro, Serbia and Vojvodina continued the activities of Anthropological Society of Yugoslavia under the leadership of Academician Petar Vlahović. The Society was sustained by great enthusiasm and efforts of its president and members. Thus, since 1992, five international congresses have been organised in Montenegro, seven in central Serbia and four in Vojvodina. In so doing, Anthropological Society of Serbia has contributed the organisation of 46 international congresses in total. In that way, Anthropological Society of Serbia has inherited 12 publications of "Posebno izdanje" and 42 publications of "Glasnik Antropološkog društva Jugoslavije", the two congress proceedings whose publishing has been financially supported by the Republic of Serbia Community for Science, i.e. Ministry of Science of the Republic of Serbia.
During almost half a century of its existence, our Society has managed to organise, consolidate and raise the science of anthropology at university level, as well as to establish communication with similar institutions in the country and worldwide, initiate the debate and investigation on many scientific issues and publish significant scientific results. It has offered a better perspective for examining the origin and development of man and the entire human society. It has contributed the entrance of anthropology as a science into educational and scientific domain. Our Anthropological Society was an initiator and founder of European Anthropological Society (1977), and together with Croatian Anthropological Society organised XII International Congress of Ethnological and Anthropological Sciences in the World.
Members of Anthropological Society of Serbia have taken an active role in programming the entire anthropological research work of our Society. They have indicated the necessity of developing and unifying anthropological methodology, investigating the development of anthropological science, biostatistics and the origin and development of man, recording evolutionary issues, human phylogenesis, ontogenesis and biotypology, human variability issues, properties of modern ethnic communities, the influence of external factors upon human organisms, human genetics, application of anthropological research in everyday life, and many other anthropological issues. All our scientific and comparative anthropological investigations are carried out and furthered within this scope.
As it has always been the case, Anthropological Society of Serbia is willing to establish and maintain the cooperation with all of the members from former SFRY and other professionals involved in contemporary anthropological issues, both in our country and worldwide.
